Another Charity Quilt

Hi all!

I just took this off the frame a couple of minutes ago.

 

This is another guild charity quilt project (but I don't think it has a clear destination yet?)  One of our guild members pieced this quilt from donated Northcott fabric and came up with the design.  Pretty cool huh?

When she asked me to quilt it I couldn't say no!

I quilted this quilt in an edge to edge wave pattern using 40 weight Fil-Tec glide thread in a silvery grey top and bobbin.  I love the way that the shine in the thread echoes the shine in the fabrics in the quilt.  I was going to do custom quilting but I figured that since the quilt was already so busy that an all-over design would suit it better and - frankly - be quicker for me!  I love the texture!

I just got three more jelly roll race quilts in today to quilt for our guild so I didn't want to spend days quilting this one ;-)

I also have a few projects on the go for fall classes to get my store samples ready that I will share with you another day.  I am very happy with the way that they are turning out though and i can't wait to share!

Are you doing any summer quilting?

What I Quilted on a Saturday Night

Hi all!

Summer is finally here and I am loving it!  Last night while my husband was golfing I decided to load this hexi baby quilt top (that I had made ages ago) onto my frame and get it quilted.

 

I cut this entire quilt using dies and it went together so nicely.  I used the Accuquilt Go! Hexigon die (55011) and the Equilateral Triangle (55079) die.  

I am very happy with the way that it turned out.  I used the 40 weight Fil-Tec Glide polyester thread top and bobbin and I just love the way that it shines!  It shines like a rayon thread without the finickiness of rayon (is that a word?) and without all the thread breaks.  I am also in love with the magna-glide pre-wound bobbins.  They are awesome and there is so much thread packed onto one!  If you can believe it this quilt used almost one entire M-class pre-wound bobbin!  That's a lot of thread!

Ok enough gushing about the Glide thread!  Now to bind this little guy :-)

Dying to Hook!

So here I was at my last post - my Pickering Oak rug wasn't very colourful at all and I was kind of stuck until I dyed some wool.  This rug was designed by Gene Shepherd.

 

It is sort of sad how much progress I made until I really had to stop and dye the wool.

 

I pulled out the un-dyed wool that I purchased for this endevour.

I prepared my wool and dyes and water and took a deep breath.

And I started to spoon the various dyes onto the wool to look like turning leaves.

I stacked and repeated the process while watering down the dyes as I went until I had all of my pieces ready to go.  Then into the oven they went.

Until the wool had cooked and came out steaming and colourful.

After the wool had dried I had a much better idea of what I had - I had some splotchy wool that just might work!  Yey!

Hooking the wool in order and paying attention to where the colours were in concentration I hooked almost three leaves so far and I love how vibrant they are turning out!  They look like leaves slowly turning on the tree in rich fall colours and against the dark background they really pop - the picture is actually a little dull compared to the reality of the wool.

Needless to say I am very happy with how it is coming along and I am looking forward to hooking the other leaves and the rest of the rug!

Rug Hooking - Pickering Oak

Hi all!

I hope that you have been enjoying the nicer weather - even the humidity is welcome ;-)

Yesterday I decided to just relax and do some more rug hooking and make some more progress on my Pickering Oak rug.  Pickering Oak is a pattern on Gene Shepherd's web site.   I just love the colours he used. 

 

 

This rug is destined for our bedroom and I can't wait for it to be finished so I can stand on it every morning!  I already stood on the small part that is done just to test it and - you know what - it works LOL!

I know it looks a bit odd right now but that's because I haven't hooked the leaves yet - and I know that's not correct - but here's my confession - I have to dye the leaf wool still!  Yikes

 

Here it is - that natural un-dyed wool just staring at me waiting for me to step up and dye it.  But I am a bit nervous about it to be honest.  It is a new technique for me - spot dying or as Gene calls it ordered wool pancake dying or something close to that.  I've watched his video on it several times but I am just a bit nervous about it.  I know I know!  Just get to it and I can over-dye if necessary LOL!

Maybe I will put the wool in to soak tonight and just get on with it tomorrow.  I really want to start hooking those leaves!

Some Charity Quilting

Hi all!

I hope that everyone is safe and dry this Tuesday!

I decided to load a couple more of our local guild's charity jelly roll race quilts onto my frame and do some simple quilting on them on Phoebe!

 

I load the two quilts side by side along a wide-back backing fabric and one run of batting.  I thought that I would post a picture of this since a few people found it hard to "see" this technique.  Two jelly roll race quilts side by side are pretty much exactly the width of the wide-back - it's a little tight but doable and it saves fabric.

By doing this I make one pass across both quilts using the same thread.  It is so much faster and easier to load and quilt once instead of twice.  I did a very loose meander stitch in 40 weight Fil-Tec Glide thread top and bobbin.  Why such a loose meander?  One - the batting is very thick polyester batting and I didn't want these quilts to get stiff with too much quilting.  Two - these quilts are going to kids and i think that they will love the puffiness of these quilts better than a packed down quilt.  They are so cuddly!

Do you do any quilts for charity?

Review of the Accuquilt Go! Cutter With Smoother Rolling!

Hi all!

Look at what I got in the mail to play with!

Yep!  This is the new version of the Accuquilt Go! die cutter with smoother rolling action.  Notice the different box with Alex and Ricki on the front?  When I was offered the chance to review this cutter I jumped at the chance as I frequently get asked if the newer version of the cutter is better.  Of course I was skeptical but I was looking forward to trying it out.

As you know I have been a Go! user for a few years now so when I opened up my machine and put a few layers of fabric on the die and ran it through let me just say that my jaw was on the floor!  They really HAVE IMPROVED the rolling action.  Not just a little bit improved but a lot improved. 

I didn't have to hold the cutter down with my other hand while I ran the die through.  I just turned the handle.  I never had to put muscle behind the cutting.  This is a big improvement!

If I can be honest it is as easy to turn as the Sizzix machines now.  Not as easy as the Studio - they still have the market there - but - just as easily as Sizzix.  The rolling action was always the biggest complaint about the Go! and that complaint is gone now.  The cutter is still the same folding up machine that is easy to store but they have changed it so that the rolling action is smoother and more stable.

Thumbs up from me!

If you still have the original Go! this improvement in no way makes yours obsolete it is still the cutter that you know and love!  Don't worry - it's just nice when a company works to improve their products.  Yey!

Do any of you have the new Go!?

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mom's - expecting Mom's - want-to-be Mom's and Mother-in-Laws out there!  xo!

What did I do today?  I went to a quilt show and purchased a few Mother's Day pressies for myself!

Yummy aren't they!  These are all Fil-Tec threads that I am looking forward to quilting with.  The large cones are Glide the smaller are the variegated Affinity and the bobbins are  the magna-glide magnetic core bobbins with a whopping 132 yds on each bobbin!  I am really looking forward to trying these out.  I really liked using the Glide thread on Phoebe and was very pleased with it so when I knew that the dealer would be at this show it just gave me another reason to get to a quilt show and buy some more!

Fil-Tec threads are all  a 40 weight trilobal polyester thread that is strong (but not too strong) smooth and has wonderful colours and a shine that just makes the thread melt into the fabric.  I loved it for machine quilting - no thread breaks :-D

Isn't that green just yummy?  I have no clear destination for that thread but how could I leave it there!!?

Just had to share my quilter's candy!

Sun Bonnet Sue Red Work at the Quilt Show!

H all!

I thought that I would share a few pictures of my finished red work that was hanging at our local guild show today.  Sorry for the not great pictures - I will have to photograph this again in better lighting!

 

Here she is!  Isn't it pretty.Again - sorry for the badly lit picture this is the best that I could do.   The quilt is so large that it is difficult to photograph easily.

 

A close-up of one of the blocks.  The embroideries are all done by machine in 50 weight thread and I think that they are so cute!

 

Another close-up showing some of the hand quilting in the border.

 

And the border!  The quilting is all 7/8" in between and done by hand!  I pieced the top and marked it with a clover blue pen.  It took over 20 hours to mark the top - whew!  We quilted it in the bee that I belong to The Silver Thimbles.  The blue all washed out and the quilt puffed back up wonderfully!

I used a silk batting in this quilt - it hand quilted like a hot knife through butter and it is so soft and just drapes beautifully!

Hope you like it!

 

Meet Phoebe!!

Here she is out of her boxes - Phoebe!!

This is the Pfaff P3 PowerQuilter and she is a dream!  I have been looking at this machine for a while now and I am so happy to add it to my sewing room! 

Isn't she purdy!?  I love the touchscreen and the sleek lines of her.

So why did I name her Phoebe?  Well she is the P3 - and if you're a Charmed fan like me - you'll know that they were always talking about their "power of three" and Piper's bar was called the P3.  But Phoebe was always my favorite character so Phoebe she is!

We got her all set-up this morning and I put some UGLY fabric on the frame and started quilting - what a dream!  I ripped that fabric off the frame after I filled it and started to get a quilt ready to go on the frame.  Our guild just happens to need a bunch of charity quilts quilted so one of these will be going on my frame next - exciting!

I am just itching to get back to quilting so I am going to sign off for now - yey!

A Find

Lookie lookie at what I found!

 

And there were two of them!  Beautifully hand embroidered children's blocks.  I fell in love with them and had to have them.  I was even willing to pay the big $1 for both of them - yep - only a buck!  It made me sad to leave them there so I grabbed them.

 

Look at that close-up.  Are they not wonderful!?  Look at the cutie owl!  He makes me want to hug him!  Someone (not me) spent hours embroidering these and I hate to see something like this go in the trash bin or be discarded and not used.   This work needs to be loved by someone.

When I bought them I had no clear purpose in mind (except saving them from the trash bin) but after I got them home I realized that they would each make a preemie quilt very nicely by just adding a border on each one!

What better use than to make two little babies a quilt using these wonderful hand embroideries!  If you can think of a better use please send me a message and I will send them to you - but - to me and my mind - two little babies should get a quilt :-)

Please let this be a lesson to you all - don't throw it out!  Donate it or - pass it on - or give it away - but please don't throw it out!  It will be gold for someone else!

Rug Hooking!

Ahhh I love Sundays!

Sundays are my day off and I try to really take them off and relax.  So today I pulled out my rug hooking - which I have not done in quite some time!  I almost forgot how much I enjoy it!

 

This is what I have been working on  - it is called Pickering Oak and it is a design by Gene Shepherd.  I love his designs and sense of colour.  I am a member of his Internet Rug Camp and find the videos to be absolutely amazing and so helpful.  If you have ever wondered about ug hooking hop over and check it out!

In quilty news I finally finished putting the binding on that large white quilt and am now waiting for it to get out of the dryer - yey!!!  I love how it turned out and can't wait to show it to you!!

Binding

It's no secret - binding is my least favorite part of making a quilt.  The odd thing is how picky I am about my binding.  I like a full and even binding done by hand with tiny stitches.

Right now I am binding a HUGE quilt that was hand quilted and I want the binding to be really well done so I am taking my time.

 

So here I sit making pretty little stitches on the back of this quilt.

What are you working on today?

New EQStitch Ordered!

I am very excited!

I finally bit the bullet and ordered EQStitch the add on software program for Electric Quilt that is an embroidery digitizing program.  Want to see it?  Go here: http://electricquilt.com/online-shop/eqstitch/#tab-Details

Why did I order this software and not others?

Well - I have been doing machine embroidery for years but no digitizing.  I wanted a basic program without having to drop really big money since I don't know how much I will use it.

I also didn't want to have to pay extra for every different part like the monogramming.  In some systems you pay hundreds of dollars for each individual program which ends up costing big bucks - yes I know that they will be bigger and more powerful systems but like I said I don't know how much I will use it.

I already own EQ7 - which is mandatory for EQStitch.

I can digitize the Accuquilt Go! shapes - they are all in it!  Part 1 and Part 2.

Last reason - right now it is 40% - until tomorrow - so I decided to jump on that price before it was $100 more!

I have been reading some posts on blogs and so far so good!  Have any of you purchased EQStitch yet? 

A New Leaders and Enders Project - Hexi Style

Hi all!

This month at my Accuquilt Go! Club I featured the equilateral triangle dies and the hexagon die since I think most people are unaware how they work.  Well while I was prepping I realized that my little 2" square leaders and enders (L&E) perfectly fit over the small hexagon!  So I got the idea to do a different L&E project. 

Not sure what L&E are?  You can check out my video here.

Don't get me wrong - you know I love my 2" squares but I have been doing 2" square L&E for over 10 years now and I felt like a bit of a change ;-)

 

I decided to use these two dies 55011 and 55079.  The hexagon die and the corresponding equilateral triangle die.  Here is a video on the the two dies together put out by Accuquilt.  These two dies are designed to work together so that you can easily construct a hexagon quilt without having to hand sew the hexis together or do any Y-seams.  

Something else that I learned after playing a bit more is that 6 of the equilateral triangles together form a hexi of the corresponding size!  How cool is that!?  You could have a pieced hexi next to a solid hexi - super cool.

I also decided to go a bit more planned than scrappy with this one and I chose red and white prints and white for the triangles.

 

How yummy is this!?  I will add the small tiny little white triangles to two sides of the hexi L&E style and slowly work up a quilt with tiny little cutie hexis in red and whites!  I think this is going to look so cute when it is finished.   I am not sure what size I will end up with or anything like that as I have not thought that far ahead yet.  I am excited to start a new L&E project after 10 years of 2" squares.  I will eventually go back to my 2" squares of course but for now - this is a fun new twist!

So what do you think?  Anyone in to start this new L&E project with me??

Back From Cuba!

I'm back!

Did you miss me?  We took a family trip over March Break to Cuba and it was just wonderful!

 

How could it not be?  Look at the view from our resort room on the first day!  Ahh sun and fun.  Just what we needed to escape the winter cold for a bit.  We stayed in Varadero Cuba - at a different resort than I stayed in last year.

I thought that I might share a few pictures from our trip.

We went on a few excursions to see more of Cuba.  We went snorkeling twice including once in the Caribbean Sea in that blue blue water.  The fish were absolutely amazing and would just follow you around.  We also did the swim with the dolphins excursion that I did last year.  Wonderful once again.

  

We went on a few boat rides as well on the different excursions - this one was a nice gentle ride up a river and back again while listening to live Cuban music - it was so nice and relaxing!

Great trip and great people!

On one of the excursions we went to a farm that had an example of a Cuban farm house on it and look what I found in the bedroom!

 

 What a neat quilt!  It looks like a half tumbler or wedge pattern with sashing.  It looks like the quilter ran out of some of the fabric used and subbed some in to finish it off.

Here's a close-up.  It is completely sewn and quilted by machine.

 

 Maybe by this machine?!  Although this machine is missing it's belt right now LOL!

 

And maybe pressed with one of these irons?  Although probably neither one of my thoughts is correct - it's fun to think that maybe it is.

I saw one other quilt in Cuba hanging from the balcony of an apartment building to dry.  I tried to snap a shot of it but the bus that we were on moved by it too quickly for me to get my camera out and grab a shot of it :-(  It was a string quilt much like the ones that Bonnie Hunter loves and I was thrilled to see it!  I tried to grab a picture honest!

 

It's behind the palm trees on the right - sigh.  Oh well!

All in all it was a great trip and I would go back to Cuba again.  The people are so wonderful and it is so safe and relaxing.  Next time I think I might try Holguin instead of Varadero.

A Fresh New Start

 These are not my usual colours!  I am in love with these fresh Kate Spain fabrics.  So today I decided to get cutting.

 

I love it!  5 fabrics go in - 10 seconds later 25 perfect strips come out!

 

So fresh - so vintage sheet looking - so not wintery!

Now to sew!

Mincraft Creeper Rag Quilt!

Hi all!

We are birthday central in this house right now as my two boys have their birthdays on the 15th and the 16th!  They are 2 years minus a day apart.

My youngest came zipping through my quilting room a bit ago and said - Mommy we could make a Creeper rag quilt!  I let it go thinking this was a passing fancy.  A week or so he came into my sewing room again and said - when are we going to work on my Creeper rag quilt?  So I started buying some green flannels - they were a challenge to get!  And I needed a solidish black flannel - luckily my LQS had one!!  I was floored - I thought that I was going to have to dye it.

What in the world is a Creeper you ask?  He's a character from the online game Minecraft - want to see a picture of one?  Here you go! 

I honestly didn't want to make this quilt - first I have made 3 rag quilts this year alone so far and second I thought that it would be the UGLIEST rag quilt ever!  But what's a Mom to do when her child is so excited about something that was so within my power to do.

As you can see from previous blog posts I have been slowly plugging away at what I was calling - in my head - the ugliest rag quilt ever.  Then a couple of days ago my youngest asked if he could have his quilt for his birthday party - so I got to work!

 

Voila!  The world's ugliest rag quilt that is the most loved one in this house!  I brought it to him at his birthday party today and you should have heard those boys!  Everyone was yelling -  Wow!  I want one!  You made that?  That's amazing!  You're so lucky!  Etc It was so gratifying!  My youngest said - Mommy that's EPIC!  It really made it all worth-while!  Yey!  

And yes - I ran out of green flannel squares so I grabbed a couple of the sashing pieces from my Christmas rag quit and threw them in!  Hey - this quilt is never going to win any awards but it is very loved!

 A couple people asked me some questions about sewing the pre-cut rag squares together so I am going to do the world's shortest tut!

These were all cut on my Accuquilt Studio machine with the fringe pre-cut.  Layer your batting in the middle and sew a simple X through it using your walking foot.

Layer two rag sandwiches wrong sides together and sew from the corner to the corner just inside the fringe.  I like to move my needle to the left a little bit to help me here.

 

 There you go!  Easy peesey!

Sew the horizontal rows together.

Sew the vertical rows together butting your seams like you do in a 4 patch.  Don't over-think it.  It is honestly easier than people think.   You can use pins here if you like - I do!

Get some support on the left hand side of your sewing machine.  Use a table or something to support the weight of the quilt because these can get heavy!  If your sewing machine is sunk into a table you will find it a little easier to manage as well.

Finish it off by sewing around the entire quilt just inside the fringe two times.

The first rag quilt I made seemed much harder than my latest one.  

Ok now I am done with rag quilts for a while I think!

A New Quilt Along!

Hi all!

Ebony has started a new quilt along and I think that it sounds great!

 

Basically she is going to go over all the tips and tricks to cutting a 1000 Pyramid quilt using different dies and different brands of machines and different brands of dies.  She will discuss fabric preparation and all the things we need to get good cuts.    

The difference in this QAL is that we won't be sewing together - just cutting so that we can work together at a later date!!  Neat huh?

I have made one of these quilts before - you can see it here and here - but - I know that I will want to join in again.  Actually - I think I have a bin already started!  Hmm? 

What have I been working on?

 

Making my youngest very happy with all those green prints I showed you!  These are all cut layered and quilted!

Scrappy Christmas QAL is Completely Finished!

Done!

I know it's February and this is a Christmas quilt but I am so thrilled that this is completely finished!

 

This will be the last installment of the Scrappy Christmas Quilt-A-Long and it has been quite a journey for me.  This was my first ever QAL and I had a lot of fun and I used up a lot of scraps.  I hope that you had fun too - even if it was just reading along - I hope that you had fun!

 

I quilted the quilt very simply in a free-hand loose meander loop with holly leaves in the mix in a 40 weight cotton thread top and bobbin.  Since the quilt is already so busy I didn't want to overwhelm it with too much quilting.  Plus this quilt is going to be used on a bed so I like less quilting to keep them soft and cuddly and to keep the flannel backing soft too.

Don't you just love the little Grinch popping up!?  He makes me smile :-D

 

In the border I used a gold 36 weight Aurifil thread and quilted a free-hand holly leaf vine in a gentle wave.  I love gold thread on a Christmas quilt!

So did you follow along?  Is your quilt in process or finished??  If you have made one or are making one please share a link  to your blog or share a picture on the Facebook page so that we can all admire it - I know that I would love to see your quilt!!

Time to come up with another leaders and enders project!

A New Start

Wow what a lot of snow we had yesterday!  

I was scheduled to do a trunk show presentation at a local quilt shop (LQS) today and with all of the snow we got yesterday I was afraid that I might not be able to get there - or - that no one would show up!  I shouldn't have been worried though - this morning was clear and so sunny and the roads were all plowed and clear.  I still worried that some people might have been snowed in but I shouldn't have worried - we were a very full house!  There was no way we could have fit even one more person in there since we were out of space and chairs!

The presentation I call "Something From Nothing" quilts to make with 2" squares leaders and enders style.  You know how I love my 2" squares and have done so many projects from them so I like to try and spread the 2" square love!  I think I did since the ladies all left smiling and happy - yey!  It's so fun to spend time with such nice people.

While at the shop I bought a few more things for my next rag quilt.  Yep - you read that correctly - another rag quilt.  Only this one is not for me - promise!

 

This one is for my youngest and he is very specific with the colours and fabrics for this one.  Any guesses what I am making?

Cog and Gear Rag Quilt

I couldn't help myself!

I have loved this cog and gear flannel print since I first saw it in my LQS and have wanted to make a rag quilt out of it since then.  Sigh - how I love a cozy rag quilt!

 

I used my Studio rags to riches set to create this cozy quilt - there are also identical dies for the Go!  so everyone can make this quilt!  The rag dies were some of the big reasons I bought my die cutter to start off with - I love a cozy rag quilt in the winter but I hate hand-cutting that fringe!

I have no idea why the raggy rectangle is STILL a "die to try" since it really should be part of the regular release.   You can't create a sashed rag quilt without the rectangle and having it having it an accuquilt.com exclusive makes it difficult for people to get.  Or should I say non-USA people to get.  Bringing things across the boarder gets very pricey for Canadians I can tell you!  So many Canadians just won't purchase it at all.

When we had our last Go! Club meeting I featured the rag dies and my LQS was able to bring in the "die to try" rag dies as a special for the club meeting.  Those raggy rectangles were scooped up!  If you want the rectangle as part of the regular release go on the site and leave a review saying how you would purchase it if it was ;-)  Enough about the rectangle LOL!

 

Back to the quilt!  I used a machine embroidery design of a gear from Urban Threads - it's subtle but I really like the effect and it holds the batting in place nicely.  You can see my mini tute on adding ME to rag blocks here.   In the rectangle and small squares I just quilted and X to hold everything together.  I was very pleased with how the design stitched out - it was well digitized and very nice with no unnecessary jump stitches.  Now I have to find something steampunk to stitch this on too!

 

Here's what it looks like outside my sewing room today.  Hmmm maybe it's a good day to curl up with my new rag quilt and a book!